Rod mill feeding means



July 31, 1962 H. l.. GENIER ROD MILL FEEDING MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 23, 1960 IIIIIII INVENTOR.

HFA/PY L. GEN/EE 777% WM, (QM XM TTOEA/EYS July 31, 1962 H. L.. GENIER 3,047,242

Ron MILL FEEDING MEANS Filed Nov. 23, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 'HE/Vey 1 GIEN/ER July 31, 1962 H. GENIER Ron MILL FEEDING MEA-Ns 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 25, 1960 INVENTOR. #5A/RY 1 GEN/Ee. JjA BY Wra's/n'u, h i

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3,047,242 ROD MILL FEEDING MEANS Henry L. Genier, Silver Bay, Minn., assignor to Reserve Mining Company, Silver Bay, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Filed Nov. 23, 1960, Ser. No. 71,219 3 Claims. (Cl. 241-171) The present application is a continuation-impart of our co-pending application, Serial Number 735,029, filed May 13, 195 8, now abandoned.

This invention relates to novel and improved feed chute means for discharging fragmented material into a grinding mill wherein it can be further ground and refined;

By way of example, and not of limitation the invention will be illustrated in an adaptation wherein ore fragments are discharged from an endless conveyor, and then fed into a rod mill by the feed chute means to be hereinafter described.

The rod mill is rotating continuously cna substantially horizontal axis, and must have end heads to retain the rods and the material to be ground. Obviously the said material is most efliciently charged through an'axial opening in an end head and the feed chute must closely approach or preferably extend into said opening, orinto a neck or similar extension of the end head. Since the entering material isy usually a fragmented ore and water mixture, hereinafter for convenience termed a sludge, the operation is normally attended by a certain amount of leakage at the zone of entry. Likewise, certain comminuted ores, such as taconite, are hard and highly abrasive, and feed chutes of this type wear away rapidly and heretofore have needed frequent replacement.

Feed chutes have been previously developed containing sealing means completely surrounding the discharge end of a discharge chute. Such sealing means have ternporarily proven effective, but in the presence of certain highly abrasive materials such -as fragmented or comminuted taconite, some of the fragmented material becomes lodged between lthe complementary stationary and rotating elements of the sealed joint and this material progresses around with the rotating element. As a result there is excessive wear on a resilient sealing gasket.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a feed chute having sealing means at the Zone of juncture of the rod mill end head and the chute discharge end.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for materially reducing wear of the sealingmean-s mentioned in the immediately precedingparagraph.

A further object of the invention is to provide a feed chute having easily replaceable wear proof liner portions to reduce shut-down time for repairs.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatically self-cleaning sealing means at the discharge end of the chute.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a study of the following description of one embodiment of the invention, in conjunction ywith the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view, taken approximately axially through the feeding end of a rod mill, and showing my novel feed chute in working position.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the feed chute as seen from the position of the line 2--2 of FIG. l, and somewhat enlarged.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the feed chute, with a part broken away and in section to reveal part of the internal structure.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the feed chute, as the right end of FIG. 3.

seen from 3,047,242 Patented July 31, 1962 FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-S of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a sectional vi W taken on rthe llines 6-6 of FIG. 4, showing details of a fragmentary portion of the stationary feed chute; adjacent portion 32, 51, of the rotating d-rum structure are added to illustrate their juxtaposed relationship.

FIG. 6A is a sectional view taken on the line 6A-6A of FIG. 4, and, as -in FIG. 6, adjacent portions 32, 51, of the rotating drum structure are shown to illustrate the relationship of the fixed and movable members.

FIG. 7 is 4an end elevational view as seen from the position of the line v7--'7 on FIG. 3.

Referring first to FIG. 1 there is shown the charging end of a cylindrical rod mill 19 which may be about ten `feet in diameter and sixteen feet long, these dimensions being lmerely exemplary of the magnitude of the apparatus.` A ring gear 20 is xed to a flange at the end of the rod mill and has peripheral teeth 20a 'which mesh with a drive pinion here shown in outline at 21. This pinion and a motor with direct driving means (not shown) may be mounted on a fixed platformat any convenient height, being shown at the bottom in FlG. l merely for "a graphic illustration of the operating mechanism. Obviously rotation of the pinion and gear produces rotation of -thedrum around its horizontal axis A.

The drum is journalled for rotation in end bearings, one being shown in FIG. l, and being the usual semicircular lsleeve bearings 22 carried on a pillar 23. The drum has an end head 24 attached toa bonnet 25 by bolts 26. The bonnet is provided with a hollow hub 25a, the outer periphery of which is machined .to lrotate -in the aforesaid bearings 22. Attached to the outer end of the hub is a retaining ring 27. A frusto-conical neck 32 is scured by retaining ring 27 against bonnet 25. The neck 32 Yserves asa flared inlet passage to receive the lfragmentedl material from the feed chute and permit it to discharge into the drum 19..

v Still referring to FIG. 1, the fragmented ore may be delivered in -a number of ways, for instance on an endless conveyor 35 Iwhich passes over an end roll 36 and discharges downwardly through -a partially enclosed housing its upper or inletl endl have provideda hopper made` lfrom steel sheets, having two end walls 40 and 41 and two side walls 42 and 43. Wall 41 is arched to t over the top of pipe 39 andY is welded to the pipe `as best seen in FIG. 4. Wall 40 is contoured to be attached by bolts to a shaped frame 44 welded to the end of the pipe. The

inner lfaces of walls 41, 42 and 43 carry wear plates 41a,`

42a and 43a which are tailored to fit the exposed wall surfaces, and are made of hard, wear-resistant alloy, the plates being attached to their respective walls by readily detachable means, such as bolts or the like, shown at 47 in FIGS. 3 and 5.

The lower inner wall 4of pipe 39 carries wear resistant lining means of semi-cylindrical shape, consisting in the present case of three parts identified by reference characters 4S, 49 and 56 (FIGS. 3, 4 and 5). These liners also are attached bybolts as shown for example in FIG. 5. These, and the wall liners previously described, are readily removable and replaceable, -so that the same supporting shell can be used indefinitely. p

At the lower or discharge end of the chute, pipe 39 is cut away, just -as within the hopper, but for a different purpose. Since the chute is used in an inclined position, and preferably extends within the cupped inlet port 30, the pipe must be cut away in the particular embodiment shown, so as to conform to one or more transverse flanges within the cup.

The delivery or discharge end of the pipe carries a ring or collar which is insertible into -a port in the rotatable end head of the drum. As indicated in FGS. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 6A an external sealing member or gasket 53 is carried on the outer peripheral surface of the collar. The collar consists of a ring 54 having an inturned circumferential flange 55 to which the sealing member is attached in any convenient way, for example by machine screws 56. This assembly comprising the gasket 53, the ring 54, and the flange 55, is arcuately cut away to provide a gap approximately sixty degrees in width at the top as best shown in FIG. 4, the gap extending between terminal faces 54a on the collar yand gasket. The gasket is formed from rubber or rubberalike material and the collar 54, 55 and its gasket are telescopically inserted into the aperture in rotatable wearing ring 51 which is carried by the spoked segment 52 of neck 32.

The arcuate ring 54 in turn is supported on another ring 57 which has -a central aperture fitting snugly around the dischange end of pipe 39. The feed chute is provided with a pair of lugs 58 (FIG. 4) which are located at the vertical plane of the center of gravity so that the chute can be lifted by -a portable crane hoist sling with a pair of terminal hooks. This is convenient when locating the chute with respect to the conveyor and the rotating drum.

The upper end wall 40 of the chute hopper is perforated to receive a water inlet nozzle 62 which can be connected by a pipe 6,3 with a source of water under pressure. Water admitted at this point will wash the ore fragments or other material downwardly into the grinding mill, the delivery end of the nozzle being shaped to inject the water angularly against the chute bottom so that the water not only facilitates delivery of the material but also increases its mobility during grinding. The line S in FIG. l indicates the normal operating sludge level within the rod mill,`

Th: cooperation between the stationary feed pipe assembly, carrying the sealing ring 53, and the rotating mill trunnion assembly, carrying seal wearing ring -1, is most important since the relative sliding contact between the seal 53 and the ring 51 must be accurate enough so that the ring 51 bites slightly into the resilient material of the ring so as to preventoutward leakage at their arcuate zone of contact.

With the construction as shown in the drawings, wherein an arcuate portion of the upper periphery of the seal and its supporting ring is cut away, any entrapped fragmented material is now carried circumferentially around by the rotation of the mill and ring 51 until said fragmented material reaches the cut-away segment of stationary sealing member 53. At lthis point said fragmented material is no longer entrapped, and drops freely downwardly into feed pipe 39. This provides an automatically self-cleaning seal which materially increases the life of the sliding seal elements 51 and 53.

What is claimed is:

l. In a material-grinding apparatus of the character described `wherein a cylindrical grinding drum is being rotated on a horizontal axis, and wherein said drum has a substantially vertically disposed end wall provided with an axially located inlet port therein, means for charging fragmented material sludge into said inlet port comprising a -feed chute having a delivery end including a collar surrounding and carried by -said delivery end, and fitted to be insertible into said port, and a sealing gasket of resilient material surrounding and attached to said collar and operatively contacting the internal periphery of said port whereby to prevent outward leakage of sludge, said gasket and said collar having aligned segmental portions cut from an upper portion thereof to provide an aperture whereby material entrapped between the outer surface of said gasket and the inner peripheral edge of said port is permitted to drop inwardly through said aperture and into the delivery end of said chute during rotation of said drum.

2. In a material-grinding apparatus of the character described, a grinding drum rotatable on a horizontal axis and having an end wall disposed transversely to said axis, said end wall having a circular inlet port axially located therein, a feed chute having a circular material-delivering end insertible in said port, a resilient sealing gasket surrounding and fixed on said material-delivering end and providing a sealing contact between the wall of said chute end and the rotatable inner peripheral edge surface of said port, an upper portion of said gasket and a registered upper portion of said Imaterial delivering end being cut away to provide an aperture whereby material entrapped between the outer surface of said gasket and the inner peripheral edge of said port is permitted to drop inwardly through said aperture and into said material-delivery end of said chute during rotation of said drum.

3. In `a material-grinding apparatus of the character described wherein a cylindrical grinding drum is being rotated on a horizontal axis, and wherein said drum has a substantially vertically disposed end wall provided with an axially located inlet port therein, means for charging vfragmented material sludge into said inlet port comprising a feed chute having a delivery end including a collar surrounding and car-lied by said delivery end, and tted to be insertible into said port, said collar having a segmental upper portion cut therefrom to provide an aperture whereby material entrapped between the outer surface of said collar and the inner peripheral edge of said port is permitted to drop inwardly through said aperture and into the delivery end of said chute during rotation of said drum.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,903,166 Bryant Mar. 28, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 149,238 Australia Dec. l, 1952 564,733 Germany Nov. 22, 1932 

